Contents

Brewfest is a holiday loosely based on the Bavarian Oktoberfest. It contains quests and novelty things such as outfits, kegs, and riding rams. In 2008, it began on 20th September and continued until 4th October. The main events are just outside of Ironforge and Orgrimmar, although there are also beer gardens set up outside of all the major cities (Silvermoon City, Darnassus, Undercity, Stormwind City, Thunder Bluff, the Exodar, and Shattrath). The only small exception to this is Shattrath; its beer garden is between the Aldor/Scryer elevators, likely so the city's sanctuary status would continue to be easily maintained. There are even Teldrassil Pink Elekk to be seen within this area by the inebriated.

Celebrated by both the Horde and the Alliance, the Brewfest is a time to enjoy the fermented fruits of the harvest: pretzels, cheese, and booze! The competing breweries Thunderbrew, Barleybrew, and the Ogres, all come together outside of all the major cities in a bid to outdo each other with their special ales, meads, and beers. Brave adventurers are invited to sit back, take a pull, and sample the finest wares these brewers have to offer![2]

Brew and buffs

Brewfest is about brew, and the brew is good, and is cheap or free.

There are three brew vending stalls in the Brewfest celebrations, selling brews for various levels. Two sell faction specific brew selections, and both celebrations have neutral ogre brew vendors. The brews vended by the brewers are both alcoholic (inebriating), refresh mana like a drink, and provide a well fed buff, similar to the Rumsey Rums. The brewers have representatives at other cities vending the same brews. There are three vendors vending three kinds of brew each, several tiered by level allowed to drink and a few high end brews with different buffs. The prices are good relative to similar mana refreshments. Beware, these Brewfest libation items, labeled "requires Brewfest", disappear when Brewfest ends.

Note that Shattrath City has a small celebration with three brew vendors. Whereas the other cities' vendors are strictly faction specific, not counting the ogre vendors common to both factions, one of the vendors in Shattrath is a neutral goblin wearing a dwarf mask selling dwarven Thunderbrews, who will sell to both factions. The third vendor in Shattrath is an Orc selling Drohn's brews, who will not sell to Alliance characters.

There are also four smaller stalls, three selling food, a bread vendor, a cheese vendor, and a sausage vendor, and one wine vendor selling other normally available inebriating drinks. The food vendors sell both special Brewfest items and normal vended food. The specific Brewfest foods have a well fed buff and cost half as much as similar level vendor food that do not provide a buff. Beware, these Brewfest repast items, labeled "requires Brewfest", also disappear when Brewfest ends. These vendors are at the main celebrations only. These vendors will not sell cross-faction, but the same Brewfest food is available from both factions vendors.

There is an achievement, Strange Brew, Strange Brew, to sample each purchasable Brewfest brew, and an achievement, The Brewfest Diet, to sample each purchasable Brewfest food. You must be at least level 65 to complete these achievements. The brews requiring above level 65 are not part of the achievement.

One sample brew, a choice of three, is given as a reward by the lead-in quest to find the Brewfest. This includes an option for the lowest brew that anyone can drink, thus, all can participate. This sample is the same item as you would purchase from one of the brew vendors, and counts toward the drinking achievements.

2012

Since Mists of Pandaria is scheduled to release September 25th, 2012, the original date range of September 20 - October 5 gave players only a little over a week to level to 90 for the new [90+] Coren Direbrew. Because of confusion on how the event would work and whether or not Coren would be killable pre-September 25th and also an outcry over the fact that he might not be, Blizzard announced that they would be pushing the event forward by just over a week (Sept. 28 - Oct. 13) to allow players a bit more time to level.[1]

Brewfest Steins

A Brewfest Stein is awarded for the completing an easy Souvenir quest (see Quests below) which will allow you to drink a few of these selections for free. These are used to collect a drink from the sample kegs, of which there are three available, one for each vendor. One of these is again the lowest brew that anyone can drink. The sample kegs are available at the main celebrations and at the city celebrations, but note that the ogre's samples at the city celebrations looks like a wagon full of smaller kegs, not like a huge keg. These samples have the name of the purchasable brew and cause inebriation, but do not count toward the drinking achievements.

Additionally, you will not be offered the stein quest in 2010 if you completed it in 2009 and already have the [Green Brewfest Stein]. If you throw away your 2009 stein during the 2010 Brewfest, thinking to get another stein achievement, the quest is still not offered.

In 2011, Horde and Alliance characters having existing steins can still get the new purple one.

You can use the Brewfest Stein to collect a sample of brew that is above your level. Drinking this will cause you to vomit shortly afterward.

You can also collect samples of brews of the other faction from their sample kegs. These will act as normal for a brew of their level of your own faction. Drinking a cross-faction sample does not count for any achievement.

The complementary sample brews used to pelt the Dark Iron Dwarves will also get you drunk, in fact actively participating in the defense will get you plastered. These also do not count toward the drinking achievements.

Other than the brewers there are many Brewfest Revelers around getting drunk, cheering, and dancing. Having a /drink with one of the Brewfest Revelers will reward you with a 15 stamina buff for 30 minutes.

For those who want to control their impairment, a pair of [Synthebrew Goggles] are available for the asking from Goldark Snipehunter or Glodrak Huntsniper. These goggles are worn in the head slot and give a buff that simulates inebriation for the purposes of Brewfest and can be removed quickly by removing the goggles. (Normal inebriation requires time to dissipate). This item is useful for completing the two hunting quests these same NPCs offer and for the Drunken Stupor falling down drunk achievement, but will not help with the Disturbing the Peace achievement, since a Brewfest hat must be worn for that in the same slot the goggles would occupy.

The goggles have an interesting "headlights" look, and you might want to keep them, but they do not persist beyond Brewfest.

Tapping of the Keg

At 6:15 AM and 6:15 PM server time, Gelbin Mekkatorque or Vol'jin gives a short speech and taps the small keg on the stand at the Brewfest grounds. Characters attending this ceremony receive a Brewfest Enthusiast buff granting 10% extra experience for two hours (reportedly only from killing mobs, not from quests, much like rest).

Gelbin Mekkatorque's speech

Mekkatorque arrives and walks up to the podium.

High Tinker Mekkatorque yells: It's good seeing so many of you here to celebrate this time honored festivity. A celebration of this magnitude is long overdue.High Tinker Mekkatorque yells: When King Magni approached me about these festivities I was excited. I began explaining how with a little help from the gnomes, we could really make this a blast to remember. Sadly, King Magni wanted to keep it simple. He wanted to honor the past.High Tinker Mekkatorque yells: I can understand that. But the King did allow for a change, letting a gnome tap the keg. So I got a chance to work on a new type of problem; How to efficiently and quickly open the keg and distribute its contents such that all participants will receive equal parts quickly and efficiently.High Tinker Mekkatorque yells: So I had my top men and women start working on a machine to do this exact task! We've calculated down to the second how best to dist-Maeve Barleybrew yells: Just tap the keg already!High Tinker Mekkatorque yells: Wait... uh... I guess the Keg Tapper 74205 will have to wait... but that's okay, I've got some designs for the Keg Tapper 75633...Maeve Barleybrew yells: BOOORING!!High Tinker Mekkatorque yells: Right, right... So let's start the countdown from ten, ready? TENBrewfest Crowd yells: FIVE!High Tinker Mekkatorque yells: Oh... okay, I'll just wait for zero then...Brewfest Crowd yells: FOUR!Brewfest Crowd yells: THREE!Brewfest Crowd yells: TWO!Brewfest Crowd yells: ONE!

Mekkatorque taps the keg.

High Tinker Mekkatorque yells: The keg is tapped! Now I would like to propose a toast. Don't worry, I'll keep it short and sweet.High Tinker Mekkatorque yells: Drink and be merry!

Mekkatorque walks down from the podium and rides back up to Ironforge.

Vol'jin's speech

Vol'jin arrives and walks up to the podium.

Vol'jin yells: We will learn who the greatest brewmaster is. We know the breweries are up for the challenge. We would not have invited them otherwise.Vol'jin yells: So now, let us celebrate with our fine warrior brothers!Drohn's Distillery Barker yells: Today is a good day to drink!Vol'jin yells: Let us count from five. Then old Vol'jin will tap this keg and we can all decide who is the greatest of brewmasters.Brewfest Crowd yells: FIVE!Brewfest Crowd yells: FOUR!Brewfest Crowd yells: THREE!Brewfest Crowd yells: TWO!Brewfest Crowd yells: ONE!

Vol'jin taps the keg.

Vol'jin yells: The keg has been tapped! The battle begins! Now raise your glasses with me, as I toast our combatants...Vol'jin yells: Brew for the horde! Drink for the horde!

Vol'jin walks down from the podium and rides back to Orgrimmar.

Brewfest mounts

Since Brewfest 2008, the Brewfest mounts are no longer available for purchase through the token system. Players must now venture to Blackrock Depths and defeat Coren Direbrew, a boss encounter whose method of summoning is similar to the Headless Horseman.

Larkin Thunderbrew and Ray'ma remain available all year round, and will vend to you if you have Brewfest Prize Tokens, but as of Brewfest 2009, it is no longer possible to buy from them after Brewfest since the Tokens now disappear the moment Brewfest ends. (For Brewfest 2008 they redeemed Brewfest Prize Tokens for some time after Brewfest 2008 ended (as long as your tokens had not expired, several days, depending on when you earned them.) They did not offer to vend after Brewfest unless you were carrying at least one Brewfest Prize Token. It was for instance possible in 2008 to purchase a Wolpertinger from them for cash as long as you were carrying a Brewfest Token.)

Since 2007's prize tickets do not expire, it is best not to convert them into tokens until you want to use them to make a purchase.

Note that any item labeled 'requires Brewfest' disappears the instant Brewfest ends. The hops in particular come in multiple varieties (only three per faction), but only the [Preserved Brewfest Hops] remains after Brewfest. (The buff from a hops to change your mount remains in force when Brewfest ends, for the duration of the buff.)

The more expensive items cannot be purchased with a single day's effort. Plan your purchases, farm the one time quests, then see how many tokens you are able to average per day with the daily quests. You do not want to come up short, because the amont that doesn't quite buy what you want disappears after Brewfest and the effort to get them was wasted. Ideally, you should have very few extra tokens.

You can pretty much get all the items required to do the achievements plus the interesting items within one year, but you will have to farm diligently.

Continuing to help out Brewfest

After completing the quest "There and Back Again" by your respective faction, talk to your faction's <Ram Racing Master>. There is an option to help out by delivering more ale from the village to the <Ram Racing Apprentice>. This is not a quest that will show up in your quest log, and it won't count against your daily total. It resets every 18 (see bugs) hours, so you can repeat it more often than daily quests.

The non-quest mechanic gives you a Rental Racing Ram for four minutes, which has a 18 hour cooldown. If the Rental Racing Ram buff is dispelled or canceled, and you cannot restore it; you simply have to wait for the reset. If you are shapeshifted, you will be unable to mount the ram, but you will have consumed your attempt, and again you have to wait to get another one. When the mechanic is started, you will be given Ram Racing Reins, however, you can also request them from the neighboring NPC to get a head start.

The non-quest mechanic works the same as the There and Back Again quest, except that for each successful delivery, you are awarded an extra 30 seconds on your Rental Racing Ram buff and 2 .

The maximum number of tokens that can be obtained is debatable. It is known that the ram racing buff will last a maximum of 15 minutes, regardless of all other factors (including any time the buff shows). However, within that limit, the number of potential runs is limited by the time it takes to deliver each barrel:

Number of runs = 210 seconds / (run time in seconds - 30 seconds)

Ignore any remainder on the number of runs - partial runs do not count. Remember that each run gives 2 , so for example if you have 6 successful runs you will receive 12 . Multiple contributors have reported several runs of 23 rounds, which is just over 39 seconds on average (remembering the first round is slower), and hits the 15 minute maximum duration for the buff.

Dark Iron attacks

Every half-hour, a party of Dark Iron Dwarves will crash the party at the main Brewfest camps outside Ironforge and Orgrimmar. Hitting these dwarves with a beer mug will knock them out cold, thus 'killing' them and stopping them from stealing the free brew. Here's how you can participate in saving the free brew for the invited guests:

Pick up a complementary sample brew from any one of the square tables. The mugs last 15 minutes, logged in or not. They are handed out from the Brewery Barkers whenever players loot a free sampler from the tables.

Using this item will cause you to quickly drink it and throw the empty mug. Staying in range (roughly 40 yards) of the NPCs that represent each brewery around the area while using a complementary brew sampler will cause them to toss you another sample. If you need to, you can always manually loot another one from the table. Drinking the mugs will get you drunk, especially if you are doing it several times in rapid succession.

If there are Dark Irons around, the mug you throw may hit one of them and knock them out. It is a random chance, and does not depend on character level. This is a somewhat unique battle in WoW where a low level character can contribute as much as a high level character. The mug works even with no Dark Irons around; it will either hit your target or if you have no target it just lands on the ground. Each time you throw the mug, you lose it, but another one will quickly be thrown to you by a barker provided you are somewhere nearby. It is useful to bind the mug to a hot key in order to drink and throw rapidly.

It is not useful to chase the Dark Iron Dwarves. The empty mugs travel quite far, and moving interrupts throwing. In addition, the Dark Iron Dwarves have a brawling move that throws player characters away from them and interrupts throwing mugs, so keeping your distance allows you to attack more often. Standing behind a keg you are defending prevents the Dark Iron Dwarves from reaching you. The mugs have an adequate range, but you may find that you need to move forward if you've eliminated all of your targets.

Frequently, large silver mugs will be placed on the ground. Walking through one of these mugs will give the player a whirlwind attack buff for several seconds. When one such mug is placed on the ground, a barker will yell out "try some of this super brew". If you get the buff, aim yourself at large groups of Dark Iron Dwarves to stun them en mass. Note that this ONLY stuns them, it does not kill them off - but this may be more effective; the stun time appears to be longer than the replacement time, and the replacement rate seems to target a fixed number of Dark Iron Dwarves invading. In general, stunning groups of dark irons will turn them into sitting ducks, allowing other players enough time to pick off individuals, then take out the stationary groups. It is also an effective way of dealing with the mass waves of Dark Irons that approach the last remaining keg.

Surprisingly enough, if you don't want to get drunk but still wish to help out defenders, you can ride over the Super Brew Steins while mounted! Players will not be dismounted when they do. Using a mount with a 'tall footprint' such as as gnome Mechanostrider mounts, or troll Raptor mounts and blood elf Hawkstrider mounts should allow you to view the red trail easier. You will gain the Drunken Master buff while being able to speed around on a mount. Being mounted will also let you get to the Steins much faster, and allow other players to focus on defense. (Players may or may not see the mount 'slide' instead of running while buffed; this is perhaps because the event designers might not have intended for the Steins to be used while mounted.)

During the 2007 Brewfest event, a stacking mark buff was awarded based on knocking out Dark Iron Dwarves, which could then be turned into tickets. For 2008 this is replaced by a daily quest offered by a remaining large cog of the Dark Iron Diggers if you're able to fight off the attackers and keep at least one of the kegs intact. The large cog has a quest question mark; loot the quest before the cog disappears. Turning the quest in to the practice mugs NPC awards 10 [Brewfest Prize Tokens]. You can assist the defense as often as you want to, but you can only loot and turn in the quest once per day. If you are part of any additional successful defenses within a day, you will not be able to click on the cog for a quest dialog. If you hold the quest and fail to turn it in, you will not be able to get the quest the next day.

Beating the waves of Dark Iron Dwarves is a group effort, there are too many and the drink and toss rate is too low for any one character to do this by themselves. Your assistance is always welcome by other defenders, but if you are setting aside time to do this for the quest tokens, do it at a time when the server is busy so that you will be part of a heavily defended Brewfest celebration. OTOH, a surprisingly few people can succeed at this defense.

The defense takes around five minutes and yields 10 tokens. Failures often happen much more quickly.

One odd note, this event is harder to do if you have good graphics. With poor graphics, you do not get the full effect of inebriation, and can still see your targets. With good graphics, as the defense progresses, you become plastered, your screen blurs, and your targets will be vague blobs. The mechanics of the defense do not require you to see your targets to hit them, but it is useful to be able to see where defense is needed, and that part gets harder. You can turn off the 'full screen glow effect' in the video / effects settings to remove the blur.

You do not have to take part in the defense in order to collect this quest. The cog is available for anyone to loot if the defenders are successful. You can log several characters out near the cog and rapidly switch and loot the cog when it appears. The cog remains for around ten minutes.

The Chug and Chuck! quest is training for how to throw the mugs to do the defense, but you do not have to complete the Chug and Chuck! quest first. You do have to loot a sample mug from a table in order to participate, and the sample mugs behave like conjured items; they disappear when you log out, and you will have to loot another one to participate in a defense. The Chug and Chuck! mugs are the same lootable mugs as the defense mugs, and can be used for the defense. (Chug and Chuck has about the best yield per time invested ratio in the event, yielding 10 tokens for about a minute's effort.)

You can defend against the Dark Iron Dwarf attack at the opposing faction's Brewfest celebration, but you will not have replacement mugs tossed to you, you will have to loot them from the tables, and you will not be able to loot the Dark Iron cog for the daily quest if successful. (It doesn't make sense that the cog would know your faction, but it does make sense that neither faction's quest end point will reward you for the defense.) If you attempt this, it is helpful to stand on or near one of the tables.

The Dark Iron Mole Machine Wreckage only spawns if the Dark Iron Dwarves are defeated, there have been reports that approximately 250 Dark Iron Dwarves must be knocked out in order for their side to lose. (This may have been true in the past, but observation in 2009's event bears evidence that winning is time based, not based on the quantity killed. All wins observed occurred five minutes after the attack started, and the number of Dark Iron Dwarves killed varied from just over two hundred to around three hundred. Some losses had around 270 killed. The only factor that seemed consistent was if there was at least one cask with at least some health remaining when the five minute mark was reached.) It will despawn after 15 minutes.

The defeated Dark Iron Dwarves running toward their exit point can still be attacked and will still knock you back. Stunned Dark Iron Dwarves who revive late can occasionally be seen running to the despawn point after their conveyance has departed.

If you need to clear a bag slot quickly (see ram racing below), the lootable defense mug is a good item to toss, since it can be easily replaced.

Dark Iron Song, sing during the event:

Dark Iron Herald says: Oh, we're from Blackrock Mountain,

We've come ta drink yer brew!

Dark Iron dwarves, they do not lie,

And so yeh know it's true!

Yeh will not try our bitter,

Yeh will not serve our ale!

But have Brewfest without our lot?

Just try it, and ye'll fail!

So lift a mug to Coren,

And Hurley Blackbreath too!

This drink is weak, without much kick,

But oi! At least it's brew!

We'll drink yer stout and lager,

Drain all the pints and kegs!

We'll drink and brawl and brawl and drink,

'til we can't feel our legs!

And when the brew's all missin'

Ta Shadowforge we'll hop

A bitter toast ta Ragnaros...

... but bring him not a drop!

Dark Iron win:

Dark Iron Herald yells: We did it boys! Now back to the Grim Guzzler and we'll drink to the 24 that were injuredl[sic]!

Racing ram tips

Several of the quests involve the racing rams, including the barking runs and the keg delivery. The ram racing event mechanics do not depend on character level.

The rams have 5 speeds, accessed through the [Ram Racing Reins]. Using the reins "encourages" the ram to speed up; encourage it enough times and its speed increases (see the speed table below). It takes a few clicks to go up to the next speed and you have to click on a regular basis to stay in a speed range. Clicking faster than the maintenance rate will speed up the pace, while not clicking for a while will slow down. Binding your reins to a hot key will give you an easier method to more easily and precisely control your use of your reins. The first ram practice quest that teaches you how to achieve the speeds.

If you get into Canter and Gallop speeds, you get a stacking debuff called Ram Fatigue which tracks your ram's fatigue. If this debuff stacks to 100, your ram becomes exhausted and slows almost to a crawl for 15 seconds. It is essential that you manage your ram's fatigue, and the two repeatable ram racing events, delivery and barking, provide two different means for doing so.

Ram Speed

% of Player'sBase Run Speed

RamFatigue

Notes

Exhausted

14%

1/7

-15 after 15 seconds

Occurs if you stack the Ram Fatigue debuff beyond 100

Walking

43%

3/7

-4 every 2 seconds

Rams start here and if you do nothing this is how fast they goSlower than a player walking backwards

Trot

129%

9/7

-2 every 2 seconds

Slower than a regular mount

Canter

200%

14/7

+1 every second

Equal to epic mount speed with no trinkets

Gallop

286%

20/7

+5 every second

Faster than Epic with CrusaderSame speed of a Paladin on regular flying mount with both ranks of Pursuit of Justice

Keg delivery

Ramstein's Swift Work Ram lasts for a total of 4 minutes. During the keg delivery daily quest, the time limit for the ram is increased by 30 seconds for each keg delivered. However, the buff has a maximum duration of 15 minutes. Even if you deliver the 23rd keg successfully, which increases the duration to 15m30s, you will be dismounted at the 15m mark. If you gallop the whole way, a single keg trip can easily take as little as 40–60 seconds, earning you 2 [Brewfest Prize Tokens], meaning that expert ram riders can stretch out the four-minute keg run to 8–10 minutes, getting 20 Brewfest Prize Tokens or more (down from 50 in the beginning of the event in 2007).

For the keg deliveries, there are apple barrels which, if you ride by closely enough, will remove the Ram Fatigue debuff entirely and allow it to start at zero again. This is very important to maximize token gain from the keg delivery daily quest, it allows you to gallop at full speed throughout the delivery event. (The apple barrels work on any ram, and there are some barrels near the barker quest NPCs, but the barking run does not have barrels along the barking route.)

Most players will find that due to lag, riding past the barrels does not always dispel the debuff. If this happens to you, compensate by ramming the barrels for a half second or so and then slide around them. An alternate method is to make an arching, banana shaped path around the barrel resulting in a longer path through the barrel's trigger radius without having to actually pause the forward movement of the ram. Jumping in the proximity of the barrel seems to give you a fraction of a second longer for the fatigue dispel to proc. This extra time in proximity to the barrel will reduce the chance that you will miss your reset and exhaust your ram. In the 2007 Brewfest you could stop (by pressing the key that would normally cause you to back up) momentarily, again creating extra time in proximity to the barrel, but this is not possible in Brewfest 2008 or 2009.

You should keep tabs on the debuff and watch for the red flash when it dispels, but beware, the red flash is an unreliable indication, check that the debuff reset to zero. If the debuff fails to dispel, it is much more expedient to return to the barrel than to allow the Exhausted Ram to proc.

The endpoints, the keg tosser and keg catcher, can also fail to proc, and it is useful to keep your main bag open so that you can see when you get the keg and when you've delivered it. By all means ensure that you've delivered the keg, you will not get the extra 30 seconds until you do. Deal with the keg as your top priority; return to pick it up or toss it as required. If you have to revisit an end point, you will probably also need a trip to an apple barrel as well.

One very easy way to keep tabs on whether or not you've gotten and/or dropped off your keg on any given run is to designate a specific inventory spot where the keg will go, and then set up a macro to use the item in that slot (make sure, however, that the first line of the macro reads "#showtooltip", without the quotation marks). Drag the macro to a spot in your UI where you can easily see it (if you've got an addon like Bartender, which will allow you to make a bar with one single giant button wherever you like, so much the better), then make sure before starting any given race that the slot you've picked is the first available slot in your inventory. A very easy way to ensure this is to set your macro to "/use 0 1", then before every race move whatever item is in the top-left corner of your backpack to a different bag somewhere - your kegs will then go into that slot every time you get them, for the duration of the race. Any time that inventory slot is empty (for example when you don't have a keg), the button will show as a big red question mark; any time you DO have a keg, it will show up on the button.

The best time of day to do this quest is when the server is least busy, because you will have less problem with events not proccing. Evening is the prime time to avoid, if your schedule allows it. Some servers just have more trouble keeping up, and the Horde procs are consistently worse than the Alliance procs, no doubt due to the goblin's low budget hiring practices. (It amounts to about an average of six tokens more per delivery session on the Alliance side.)

Regarding the following optimal paths and strategies, assess the effect of lag on your current runs. If, buy some miracle, everything works smoothly, you can find an optimal turning point at the maximum radius away from the tosser and catcher, race past the barrels, and will not have a problem. Us mortals will envy you and will err on the side of robust runs that do not fail.

Optimal path for Alliance: There are four apple barrels along the route - barrel 1 in the ram pen, barrel 2 at the crossing, barrel 3 in a hollow behind a tree as you approach Kharanos (moved there in 2009 from the 2008 location at the gnome lab); it is set up for jumping over; and barrel 4 in Kharanos behind the keg thrower (moved in 2009 to near the carts on the other side of the street). You should avoid using barrel 4, since barrel 3 is so close to the keg thrower. Just make a quick 180 shortly before you'd ride past the guard (Ironforge Mountaineer), and ride back to barrel 3. Similarly, you should avoid using barrel 1, since barrel 2 is so close to the keg receiver. Just make a quick 180 shortly after you ride into the clearing where the receiver stands. You should use as few barrels as possible; each entails a slight but cumulative delay. There are a few fast routes, but you will have to compromise some guidelines.

An excellent path for Alliance

Strategy 1 - The first strategy is less risky, but a little slower (14-15 deliveries). Just ride to barrel 3, get the keg, ride back to barrel 3, then ride to barrel 1 at the ram pen (skipping barrel 2 entirely). Rinse and repeat. Uses 3 refreshment barrels.

Strategy 2 - The second strategy is like the first, but reverses the refreshing scheme. Ride to barrel 2, ride toward barrel 4, but approach from the keg thrower's side. There is a line of barrels stacked near the road, if you ride along either side of that, you are close enough to get a keg. Ride around keg four, or jump and spin over it, and ride back to barrel 2. Ride toward the keg receiver, turn in the clearing before you get to him, and repeat. Uses 3 refreshment barrels.

Strategy 3 - The third route (16-20 deliveries) goes like this: You start by going to barrel 3, get the keg, ride to barrel 3, then ride towards the ram pen in a straight line. Now there are two flags in front of the ram pen: Flag 1 in front of it next to a big tree, and another one next to a smaller tree. When you ride a couple yards past flag 1, you'll throw your keg. Make a quick turn there, and ride around the big tree towards barrel 2. Your fatigue should be 50-55 when you make that turn. Just to be safe you should stop using your Ram Racing Reins at 45-50 fatigue. You'll fall back to Canter when your debuff stacks to ~90 (this is where it gets a little risky). Just make sure your debuff resets, then start using the Reins again and Gallop to barrel 3, etc. So this is the path: Barrel 3, pick up the keg, barrel 3, deliver, barrel 2, barrel 3, pick up the keg, barrel 3, deliver, 2->3->pick up->3->deliver->2->3 etc. Uses 3 refreshment barrels, none of which are end point turns.

Strategy 4 - Another route you might want to try is hit both middle barrels in both directions, and skip both end barrels: (start), barrel 2, barrel 3, pick-up (yards in front of the NPC), barrel 3, barrel 2, deliver (yards in front of the NPC), repeat. This is a very fast, yet forgiving route, and you can adjust your pickup and delivery turns as you gain confidence. Uses 4 refreshment barrels, none of which are end point turns. This is slower than the third strategy, but the timing is not as tight, so it is less risky as you are building confidence.

Keep in mind if you do this that the end point barrels are available should the others fail to proc. This is an excellent bail-out option that does not cost you too much additional time.

Strategy 5 - It's possible to use only barrel 3. The path is very simple: Barrel 3, pick up, barrel 3, deliver. You should only try this route if you're very good at using the jumping trick below (keep the Galloping speed midair while only getting Canter fatigue ticks). You need to use it about 6 times when delivering the keg. It's the fastest possible route (very close to a straight line), but also the hardest. Tip: Practice with the ram from the barking quest.

Optimal path for Horde: There are also four apple barrels along the route, which goes along the road toward Razor Hill. Barrel 1 is in the ram pen behind the tent, barrel 2 along the west side of the road (right side when you are starting), north (toward org) of the goblin merchant' cart and clearing, barrel 3 hidden behind a small hilly outcropping on the east (left side when you are starting out) at the entrance to the canyon, and barrel 4 in the canyon behind and across the road to the east of the keg thrower. The same guidelines and strategies apply with the additional advice that barrel 2 seems particularly conveniently placed. It's safest to eat from all three barrels, but Barrel 2 is close enough to the keg receiver than you can eat from Barrel 2, toss the keg, and return to Barrel 2 just as your ram's fatigue hits 90-95. The timing is very close, and players with server lag might not wish to risk the two seconds it could take for your ram to register that an apple barrel is nearby.

General tips

A tip for quick, easy course changes: Once you get your ram pointed on a clear straight path to an apple barrel or keg pick-up or drop-off point, rotate your camera to face the direction you'll want to travel after getting there. That way, when you reach your destination, you can press the right mouse button to change your heading instantly and accurately. The rams are always running, but the game still keeps track of whether your character is in run or stand mode. If you are in run mode many peoples' camera swings to face forward. You can just press your key bound to turn off movement. Your ram will still be running, but your camera will stay in place as if you were standing still.

You can also hold down your left mouse button after rotating the view to remain facing where you've turned the camera. While doing this, pressing the right mouse button will instantly change the direction as above.

Another tip to try and maximize your runs involves jumping. If you jump while your ram is Galloping, then in midair you switch to Canter, you can get a few seconds of Gallop speed with the fatigue cost of Canter. So with some good timing you can get 2 to 4 seconds of free Gallop time between the barrel thrower and the apples. Also for those without lag, take note of how soon you can turn around. It's much sooner than you may think.

Keep your thumb on the space bar to jump, because you will get hung up on scenery items, and jumping will usually release you. If that doesn't work, try quick turns.

If the Exhausted Ram debuff procs, you are kind of screwed; even if you are at a barrel, with zero fatigue, the debuff will run for its full 15 seconds. Don't sweat it, just do your best and get the most tokens you can out of the remainder of the run. If the debuff procs and your fatigue is still high, around 85, then trot or canter to the nearest barrel, don't gallop, then resume the run after you've cleared your fatigue.

Depending on server latency and ram speed, you may need to collide with an apple barrel for the server to recognize and eliminate your ram's present fatigue.

Seconds count

To restate the point, if you can consistently shave seconds off your runs, you will get more tokens. Don't feel bad if you screw up, it is a learning process, and this run has all kinds of room for improving your technique. If you at least try, you will get some tokens. But the curve of run time vs how many tokens you get takes off asymptotically toward infinity as you approach a 30 second run. So, as your runs get very good, fractions of a second saved can accumulate to several tokens difference.

Need bag slots!

It is vital to ensure that you have bag slots available for the reins, the keg, the tokens you will be receiving, and if you are close to 200 tokens, for a new stack of tokens. If you accept the run with insufficient bag slots, you've used your run and you will not be able to get another until the time limit has passed. If the ram spawns, do not despawn it. Clear space while mounted and use the remainder of your time. If you despawn the ram, you've used your run. If you have no slot for the barrel, you will be able to do the runs, but will not receive the barrel and will earn no tokens. If you have no space for additional tokens, you will not receive the tokens for the run. If you have 199 tokens and no space, you will not receive one token for the run, you need to be able to receive two per run.

This event is as much about managing failed procs and damage reduction as anything. Even if you optimize your route, some points are going to fail. Having a plan B helps maximize your take; don't sweat it when it happens.

It seems the Horde runs take a bit longer, and the average token earnings on the Alliance side is somewhat higher, perhaps as much as six tokens.

Delivery runs yield two tokens per run, and runs should not be taking more than a minute, generally significantly less.

Barking runs

For the barking runs, there are no apple barrels along the route, and you will have to pace yourself. Gallop becomes counterproductive; you will build up fatigue too rapidly and be forced to go too slow. Mixing canter for speed and trot for fatigue recovery while still moving will allow you to complete the task.

Another strategy to complete barking runs faster is to canter most of the way, occasionally tapping the reins just enough for a split-second gallop, while simultaneously jumping. This will give you a slight but noticeable speed boost but should not last long enough to grant you the extra fatigue. This can also be used during trot to gain a split-second of canter speed.

When you complete the quest and are returning to the NPC, both the Alliance and Horde versions will afford you the opportunity to take a downhill shortcut. Take it if you can. Leaving Iron Forge, go down the mountainside toward the Brewfest. If you pick your way, you can have damage under 1%, but expect over 1%. If you jump straight down expect over 50% damage. In Orgrimmar, leaving the Valley of Spirits, fortuitous use of jumping down to rooftops will allow you to take a straighter route out of the city.

The quest objectives are to bark at four locations in the city while mounted on the ram before the timer expires, but returning to the quest NPC is not a quest objective. This means you only have to return to the NPC to turn in the already completed quest. You can switch to your normal mount, or cruise around on the rental ram. You can check your mail, visit the auction house, or turn in your Brew of the Month Club application before returning to the quest NPC. This is especially useful if you are camping the Dark Iron exit point.

You need the reins in your inventory for the turn-in. If you do not have them, request a new set from the NPC near the NPC that gives the delivery runs.

The quest is completed the day you turn it in, not the day you complete the objective, so holding on to it will prevent you from doing the subsequent days' barking dailies.

Barking runs yield 15 tokens. You should be able to return to the quest NPC before your ram despawns, so the yield is better than 3¾ tokens per minute.

Other ram tips

The rams work much like any other mount, and performing most actions while mounting will despawn the mount. That means when you are on a ram, and if you are you are on a ram racing quest, stay focused on the ram quest, do not do anything else. Be careful which hot key you press.

Your faction's <Ram Racing Apprentice>, next to <Ram Racing Master> NPC offers replacement reins. These do not summon a ram, however, they are useful to prep for the non-quest mechanic, when continuing to help out Brewfest.

The rams are actually a spell Rental Racing Ram that lasts for four minutes. You could probably creatively exploit this for your low level character. You might use it to run toward Loch Modan for the delivery quest and to pick up the fight path. If you do this on the initial ram racing quests, rather than the repeatables, you can abandon the quest and get another ram.

The ram training quest, the delivery training quest, and the daily barking are actual quests and have the full quest mechanic, so you can fail these and request a new ram. The delivery task is not a quest, and is only offered once per eighteen hours; you cannot restart.

If you still have the ram from another activity, despawn it before taking the next activity. (Right click the ram buff icon.) For the barking, you will start the barking, but the ram's timer is not reset, so will fail shortly, and you will have to abandon the quest in your quest log, get the quest again, and restart. The daily delivery fortunately seem to ignore your request for work if you have a ram spawned.

Do not ram race whilst intoxicated. The unpredictable movement can make for a bad run.

Useful rental ram abuse tips

The racing rams can be ridden in doors. They do not despawn, like normal mounts. You can ride your ram into the auction house, post or check an auction, then continue on.

If you do check your mail or use the auction house, aim your ram toward a wall to prevent forward motion.

Since the barking quest can be deliberately failed, you can take the quest, use the ram, and then fail it and get another.

Many of the Horde goblin NPCs for the Brewfest are wearing dwarf masks. This appears to be an homage to the dwarves' legendary brewing and drinking abilities.

The goblin vendors outside of Orgrimmar have an neutral aura, but will not talk to Alliance characters. Alliance characters cannot initiate their quests, nor can they purchase from the Brewfest Prize Token vendor.

The goblin vendor selling Thunderbrew dwarven brew in Shattrath City will sell to both factions (the Orc selling Drohn's there will not sell to Alliance). The Thunderbrew offerings are not generally available to the Horde, and do not count toward the Brewfest achievements, but will count for It's Happy Hour Somewhere.

The Ogre vendors in both locations (outside Orgrimmar and in Shattrath City) have a neutral aura and will sell to Alliance characters; presumably this is reciprocal in the Alliance Brewfest celebration.

Note that the Disturbing the Peace achievement description says you must be "completely smashed"; this is not true. It is sufficient (in the 2010 Brewfest) to drink until you get the "drunk" message, then drink just two or three more weak alcohols, still short of the "completely smashed" message. It is possible that this is due to a change from previous events' requirements. (You still have to meet the other requirements.)

Trivia

Brewfest holds the Guinness World Record for the Largest Virtual Beer Festival. [4]

Videos

Bugs

The Dark Iron attack was not awarding tickets due to a bug in the 2007 event.[citation needed] This was replaced in 2008 by the cog world item that gives a daily quest for tokens. The cog only drops if the invaders are repelled.

During the first Brewfest in 2007, players were shown that emoting /wave to their local Brew Barker, Brewery Barker, or Brewmaiden would have them toss you a Complimentary Brewfest Sampler, as ammunition for the Dark Iron attacks. Keeping this sampler and waving again caused a new mug to fly through the air and donk you in the head, bouncing off to fall within a 360° circumference of the player and disappearing through the ground. The problem was, players figured out that macroing multiple /wave emotes into a single macro would have the NPCs throw a mug for each /wavesimultaneously. This created a 'beer mug fountain' effect, like water spraying outward at the top of a water foutain. While many found this highly amusing, even only a few players doing this at the same time would cause significant lag to other players with less robust internet connections. Many who realized this would stop out of courtesy to those players, but this became only one item of a list of problems with the Dark Iron attack event. This forced Blizzard to disable all components of the attack, so that it could be retooled for 2008.

Blizzard was reworking the Catch the Wild Wolpertinger! and Pink Elekks On Parade quests for 2008, but ran into a problem that could not be hotfixed, and only solvable through a patch. The problem came up too late to be patched in time, which forced Blizzard to disable the quests. These quests returned in 2009, though only for US realms.[citation needed]

The reset time on the Ram racing quest appears to be bugged for some people, causing the reset time to be 18 hours instead of the 'intended' 12. This bug is not afflicting everyone, but if your quest doesn't reset after 12 hours, try again after 18. No official response from Blizzard at this time.

The reset time bug has been cleared by Blizzard. The reset time was put on 18 hours as you can see on Blizzards site, but now is not available. However some players reported to be still experiencing 12 hour reset timers during the 2009 Brewfest event.

Historical notes

Patch changes

Hotfix (2009-09-30): "Brewfest is a time of year where the focus is placed squarely on the celebration of fun and food. In order to give everyone enough time to truly experience this event (and after some fine tuning on the part of the event organizers), we will be extending the event two additional days. The festivities will end on October 5th at 11:59PM, so don’t miss it!"

This extension will most likely only apply to the 2009 Brewfest season.

Patch 2.2.2 (2007-10-02): Added.Lasted from October 3rd through the 16th.

References

^ abVaneras 2012-07-30. #118 - Brewfest. Official Gameplay > General forum (EU). In order to make sure you guys have some more time to prepare for this year's Brewfest, we have pushed the whole event forward by just over a week, stopping short of overlapping with the Hallow’s End event.